Shigeru Ishiba’s election as Japanese prime minister may have set the stage for a new approach to relations with North Korea, but after just barely holding on to power in a snap election, the new leader’s bold ideas to resolve pressing human rights concerns are likely to face challenges from opponents at home and in Pyongyang.

Like his predecessors, Ishiba has often emphasized the need to resolve the issue of the abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, one of Tokyo’s main talking points when it comes to the DPRK’s human rights abuses.

However, true to his reputation